02-29-2016, 07:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-29-2016, 08:06 AM by MichaelMeissner.)
According to the datasheet (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0cEs0l...yUWYw/view), the camera uses a CMOS sensor. It does not mention that it is BSI-CMOS. The BSI stands for back illuminated sensor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-illuminated_sensor), which is the latest method of noise reduction for cameras.
In addition, the datasheet shows that the camera can only do 15fps for full frame video. If you want 30fps, you have to step down to QVGA (320x240) mode. Given this restriction, I am finding it hard to imagine any use of the camera.
As a comparison, the Raspberry Pi camera (Omnivision 5647 CMOS) that I found to be too noisy to use indoor for stills without additional lighting does use BSI-CMOS and can do 1080p video at 30fps, 720p video at 60fps, and QVGA at 120fps. Here is the datasheet by comparison: http://www.ovt.com/uploads/parts/OV5647.pdf.
FWIW, the R-pi camera sensor was announced in 2009, and the Pine64 camera sensor was announced in 2012, but the specs of the pine64 look like it is a time warp to an earlier time.
Note, even after I searched around to find a faster lens for my Raspberry Pi camera, it still needed to go to ISO 800 or more to take a picture at 1/30, and the picture was just painful to look at.
As you might guess from my icon photo (taken in 2011), I like to disguise modern cameras to make them look like older cameras. The icon picture is of my big rig that has an Olympus E-5 (previously E-3) inside of a box that is reminiscent of the older cameras from the late 1800's and early 1900's. The current rig is meant to encapsulate most things that are in modern cell phones in a steampunk context (camera is obvious, I have a telegraph key for communication and also to fire the camera, I have sextant and compass to find your location instead of a GPS, a dragon for security, photographer and painter squirrels for backup imaging, slide rule/abacus for calculation, an angry bird in a ballista for playing games (it never is the same twice).
Here is a picture of the rig from 2012, along with an Olympus E-P2 stuffed inside of a 1915 Kodak Pony Premo 5x7 camera, and, and Olympus TG-120 inside of a simple box:
![[Image: 2012-06-11-08-24-061-hidesir.jpg]](http://www.the-meissners.org/2012-small-albums/2012-hide-camera/small/2012-06-11-08-24-061-hidesir.jpg)
For the Raspberry Pi, I bought a Polaroid 95A camera body, and I've put the Raspberry Pi into the body, and the Pi camera on the front. I had hoped to do a similar thing with the pine64, but after looking at the specs of the pine64 camera, and having to wait until the Linux graphics performance is usable, I think I'm going to give up on using the pine64 in this capacity.
![[Image: 2015-02-23-10-30-001-hidepi.jpg]](http://www.the-meissners.org/2015-small-albums/2015-hide-camera/small/2015-02-23-10-30-001-hidepi.jpg)
![[Image: 2015-02-23-10-42-002-hidepi.jpg]](http://www.the-meissners.org/2015-small-albums/2015-hide-camera/small/2015-02-23-10-42-002-hidepi.jpg)
In addition, the datasheet shows that the camera can only do 15fps for full frame video. If you want 30fps, you have to step down to QVGA (320x240) mode. Given this restriction, I am finding it hard to imagine any use of the camera.
As a comparison, the Raspberry Pi camera (Omnivision 5647 CMOS) that I found to be too noisy to use indoor for stills without additional lighting does use BSI-CMOS and can do 1080p video at 30fps, 720p video at 60fps, and QVGA at 120fps. Here is the datasheet by comparison: http://www.ovt.com/uploads/parts/OV5647.pdf.
FWIW, the R-pi camera sensor was announced in 2009, and the Pine64 camera sensor was announced in 2012, but the specs of the pine64 look like it is a time warp to an earlier time.
Note, even after I searched around to find a faster lens for my Raspberry Pi camera, it still needed to go to ISO 800 or more to take a picture at 1/30, and the picture was just painful to look at.
As you might guess from my icon photo (taken in 2011), I like to disguise modern cameras to make them look like older cameras. The icon picture is of my big rig that has an Olympus E-5 (previously E-3) inside of a box that is reminiscent of the older cameras from the late 1800's and early 1900's. The current rig is meant to encapsulate most things that are in modern cell phones in a steampunk context (camera is obvious, I have a telegraph key for communication and also to fire the camera, I have sextant and compass to find your location instead of a GPS, a dragon for security, photographer and painter squirrels for backup imaging, slide rule/abacus for calculation, an angry bird in a ballista for playing games (it never is the same twice).
Here is a picture of the rig from 2012, along with an Olympus E-P2 stuffed inside of a 1915 Kodak Pony Premo 5x7 camera, and, and Olympus TG-120 inside of a simple box:
For the Raspberry Pi, I bought a Polaroid 95A camera body, and I've put the Raspberry Pi into the body, and the Pi camera on the front. I had hoped to do a similar thing with the pine64, but after looking at the specs of the pine64 camera, and having to wait until the Linux graphics performance is usable, I think I'm going to give up on using the pine64 in this capacity.